Pharmaceutical Sales Strategies for Diabetes Care

Success in the diabetes market is driven by educating physicians on evolving standards of care and patients on lifestyle and treatment adherence.

The management of diabetes and metabolic syndrome is impeded by patient and clinician barriers. As the prevalence of diabetes has reached epidemic proportions and is growing by 3% each year, new classes of diabetes agents are being developed for better control of glucose levels. Standards of care for diabetes are evolving and, in addition to control of blood glucose levels, new considerations include cardiovascular safety, obesity, nephropathy, retinopathy, and medication side effects. Within this environment of shifting priorities, clinicians may be reluctant to optimize therapy in a timely fashion. Moreover, patient adherence to pharmacologic treatment is low. Prevention of diabetes through lifestyle management of metabolic syndrome through diet and exercise combined with the careful use of pharmaceutic agents has become another priority, but is also impeded by low patient adherence.